More In Your Life

County should revisit saving mansion

Posted: Jun. 21, 2014 10:23 pm Updated: Jun. 26, 2014 10:23 pm

Editor:

It appears Sussex County Community College President Dr. Paul Mazur has a secret agenda and the Horton Mansion is in his way. Originally the college stated it needed more parking spaces. Now, as stated in the June 6, 2014 New Jersey Herald, it says the property could be used for another project in the future.

In the May 21, 2014 edition of the Herald, Dr. Mazur, referring to the Historical Society’s proposal that the mansion be saved, said: “Obviously, they (the society) can petition the board and bring that to us.” He also said there had been no definite decision on when the mansion would come down. “The board would have to vote on it,” he said, further stating there haven’t been specifications written by the school’s engineer or architect for such a job.

Two weeks later in the June 6, 2014 edition of the Herald an article on the Horton Mansion mentions the college will be getting bids for the cost of the demolition.

The demolition of the Horton Mansion seems to have been put in high gear all of a sudden. It would be wise of the Sussex County freeholders to put the brakes on the demolition process and meet with Dr. Mazur to remind him that he runs the college, he doesn’t own it.

They should get some straight answers from him, including what the future projects might be, so the citizens of Sussex County aren’t surprised to learn that a new administrative office is being planned.

Excluding interim college presidents, the average time previous presidents have spent in that position is 5.5 years. Dr. Mazur is now into his fourth year. What a sin it would be if the town of Newton and Sussex County officials caved in to Dr. Mazur and allowed for the mansion to be demolished and shortly thereafter Dr. Mazur handed in his letter of resignation.

All reasonable and financially responsible efforts should be looked at to try to save this historic mansion. The first step should be to get an unbiased study done immediately.

I attended the April 28 meeting of the Newton Town Council where they voted against historical designation for the mansion and listened to the engineer commissioned by the college to assess the building’s condition. It was evident when the engineer mentioned such trivial points as cracked or broken windows, the smell of possibly a dead animal and other incidentals that the report was biased.

Sussex County historian Wayne McCabe, who also attended that meeting, was quoted in the April 29, 2014 Herald: “I think it was a gross overstatement on the renovation costs.” Mr. McCabe was responsible for saving the county park building in the town green after it was viewed by others as being impossible to save. He has offered to evaluate the mansion and report on his findings free of charge, and is qualified to do such a study.

As a way of showing their appreciation of and respect to the Sussex County Historical Society for the years of its time spent volunteering to document the county’s history, the freeholders should do a walk-through of the mansion with Mr. McCabe and some reputable local contractors and get a true evaluation of the structure.

Hopefully the next article we read about the Horton Mansion will, rather than report on its demise, reveal the true renovation costs that would be provided by Mr. McCabe.